Mail Bonding
This quarterly rambling column gives you license to talk back and see your wine comments and questions in print. If you have something to say, good or bad, e-mail me at corkscrew@creativeloafing.com. Finding the Finds Tim Roche, Sarasota, Florida: I’m new to Sarasota and was wondering if you know where I might find some PlumpJack…
And Justice For Some
It’s increasingly common that newspapers from London, England — the intellectual ones, not the nipple-baring trashy tabloids — provide deeper perspectives on American politics than do mainstream American media. This week’s reading across the pond reveals two troubling trends in the workings of American justice that haven’t received much coverage in the Charlotte region. The…
Good Eats
All Around Town Anntony’s Caribbean, 400 S. Tryon St., 704-339-0303; 2001 E. 7th St., 704-342-0749. All locations have different owners. A hint of the tropics; rotisserie chicken with Jamaican jerk sauce, ribs, Paradise Island fish special, curries, and Caribbean styled greens. $$ Azteca, 116 Woodlawn Rd., 704-525-5110; 9709 Independence Blvd., 704-814-9877; 1863 W. Franklin Blvd.…
Walking The Walk
When Justin Williams set about forging The Talk, he did so with Occam’s Razor in hand, shaving his musical language down to the most basic terms. The result is a rush of pure adrenaline, a hopped-up concoction of machine gun rhythms, buzzing guitars and punk rock urgency whose hell-bent-for-leather spirit harks back to UK bands…
Grisman’s Dawgma
“I view myself as a pretty traditional player when I play bluegrass,” says mandolin virtuoso David Grisman. “A lot of the things I came up with, Bill Monroe wouldn’t call bluegrass, and neither would I. That’s why I called my music Dawg Music and distanced myself from bluegrass, because it’s false advertising.” Thinking of Grisman…
Sit & Spin
Sonic Youth Sonic Nurse DGC Twenty years ago, Sonic Youth’s guitars raged and spiked so violently that “songs” were often just two bits of silence surrounding a roar of isolation and pain. Now, violence percolates under-neath real songs, sculpting itself into forms easily recognizable, but no less terrible. Either way, Sonic Youth is in control.…
Stuff Is The Drug
I’ve dipped into the delights of a drug or two, but compulsive shopping isn’t one of them. I can get a boost from retail therapy with the best of my fellow countrymen, but I like my shopping stints to be spread out and either high-end or funky. Pushing a shopping cart up and down the…
Music Menu
WEDNESDAY 7.7 Flickerstick — These alterna-rockers catapulted to fame after winning VH1’s Bands on the Run showcase/talent show back in 2000. All the brouhaha landed them a major label deal that went sour after one release and a few months of touring. They’re still kicking and looking for that elusive hit while reaching for the…
Our First Psychic Column
Ah, Independence Day. The rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air. Unfortunately, it’s also a time for early deadlines for weekly newspapers, meaning that I’m struggling for things to write about for this issue. How do you cover the whole Independence Day experience when the column’s due on Friday, July 2? This calls for…
Soundboard
Wednesday, Jul. 7 Amos’ Southend Flickerstick w/ New August Blue Melinda Hansen, Royce Guin, Korey Dudley & Rob Knox Breakfast Club DJ Boney B Cecil’s Robin Rogers Band Charleston Chops, Cornelius Michelle Smith, Bill & Ray The Evening Muse WordPhoria The Gin Mill Wizard’s Road Show Hart-Witzen Gallery Open Mic w/ Claytos Venhuizen Horse Shoe,…
The Blotter
What You Been Sniffing?: Police were summoned to a local store after a man tried to return a receipt he had found in the parking lot for a cash refund. The inspiration for his harebrained scheme may have been what police later found concealed in the master crook’s jacket — a bottle of glue. Theft…
It’s All Geek To Me
Just this past month, Turner Classic Movies presented a 19-film salute to the legendary Saul Bass, the man who almost single-handedly turned opening-credit sequences into an art form. Not one to merely throw blocky letters onto the screen, Bass would create elaborate, visually arresting intros that often were as entertaining as the movies that followed…
Word On The Street
Patricia Hepstall Radio Sales Rep “Well, that’s just great — hey, let’s let old, celibate men make all the decisions about issues of women’s reproductive rights.” Lorraine McDonald Taxi Dispatcher “I’d be more interested if the communion wafers weren’t so bland. I’ve always thought they have should have different flavors. Coconut would be good.” Doug…
On The Case
“Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.”Forget Chinatown? With apologies to the character who utters that immortal line, it’s simply impossible to forget Roman Polanski’s classic detective yarn, a genuine masterpiece that has endured as a genre mainstay since its debut 30 years ago. Chinatown is just one of the eight motion pictures that will be presented…
See & Do
JULY 7 – WEDNESDAY Religious fanaticism has become less laughable since Larry Shue first unveiled The Foreigner in 1983. But the intimacy between painfully shy limey Charlie Baker and backwoods dolt Ellard Simms hasn’t lost a bit of its luster in the wake of 9/11. In fact, Shue’s point — that we can’t afford diffidence…
View From The Couch
THE ENGLISH PATIENT (1996). Michael Ondaatje’s award-winning novel was one of those works that was deemed “unfilmable,” yet that didn’t stop producer Saul Zaentz (Amadeus, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and writer-director Anthony Minghella (Cold Mountain, The Talented Mr. Ripley) from giving it their best shot. The resultant bull’s-eye exceeded anyone’s expectations: Here was…
Ask the Advice Goddess
Elbow Groom I’ve been with my boyfriend for four years. We’re happy together, and we constantly discuss our future, but talking about it is all we do. Well, I just got my master’s, and I’ve started looking for jobs in other cities because I don’t want to sit around waiting for him. He seems to…
Film Clips
NEW RELEASES CHARLOTTE FILM SOCIETY Movies begin this Friday at the Manor and continue the following Friday at Movies at Birkdale. Call 704-414-2355 for details. * OSCAR SHORTS This compilation presents several of the nominees that were in contention for this year’s gold statues: three live-action shorts, two animated shorts, and, as a bonus, the…
Stargazer
For All Signs Not everything that glitters is gold. If you are considering a proposal or an idea that sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t invest what you cannot afford to lose and don’t promise what you may not be able to deliver. Many will be tempted to do that very…
Holy Wars
Bill James was happy when he saw the press release. He thought of it simply as a shot across the bow. It was February 2004, a time when the word was beginning to spread that the Charlotte city council would consider a spousal benefits plan for unmarried couples, gay or straight. Dan Burrell, the senior…
Out of the Margins
A thriving fringe theater scene in Charlotte? At the dawn of the Loaf Era in 1987, the idea was ludicrous. The really big shews weighed anchor out on Independence Boulevard at Ovens Auditorium. Uptown on Tryon Street, Spirit Square was the hub for both Charlotte’s Equity theater company and its guerrilla theater movement. But the…
Tokens of Torture in Vietnam
This past week found me sorting through my souvenirs from the war in Vietnam as I prepared to transfer my papers and photographs to the Southern Historical Collection of Manuscripts at UNC-Chapel Hill. There was the beautifully embroidered upraised middle finger shoulder patch from a Navy support unit. There was a song I jotted down…
On the War Path
In the mid-80s, author James Lee Burke began experimenting with a mystery novel starring Cajun cop Dave Robicheaux, a Vietnam vet and recovering alcoholic. It didn’t take long for Robicheaux to become a popular character — or for his creator to begin writing books at a prodigious clip (24 and counting, with another in the…
Mission Accomplisheder
“As recognized in UN Security Council resolution 1546, the Coalition Provisional Authority will cease to exist on June 28th, at which point the occupation will end and the Iraqi interim government will assume and exercise full sovereign authority on behalf of the Iraqi people. I welcome Iraq’s steps to take its rightful place of equality…
Arts Agenda
Comedy Bayou Kitchen Comedy. Extreme Improv: Fridays 8pm – Chicago Style long form improv “The Gallery”; Saturdays 8pm – “Who’s Line Is it?” style improv; Psychotic Pooch at 10pm. Fridays and Saturdays. www.extremeimprov.comwww.psychoticpooch.com. $10. 1958 E 7th St. 866-467-7681. The Comedy Zone Upcoming Performances. July 9-10: Brian Regan & Dave Tucker; July 15-17 & 22-24:…
Summer of The Vacuous
If isolated in a Petri dish somewhere, it’s a virus that spreads through broadcast airwaves and magazines, infecting otherwise intelligent female life with a preoccupation with bling-bling and media overexposure. It’s the Vacuous Virus. First spotted in braintrusts like the Hilton sisters, Britney Spears, and Jessica Simpson, even the mildest of feminists can no longer…
The Hole Truth
Consider the bagel. At one time, a bagel was a delightful treat consisting of hand-rolled dough that had been boiled, then baked until the crust had a glossy sheen. These bygone bagels were modestly apportioned, not the monster trucks — the Winnebagels — you see plying America’s culinary roadways today. They were not offered in…
A Useful Genocide
Consider this an advanced lesson in politics. The best example I’ve seen in a long time of how the game is really played can be found in a column written by Republican senators John McCain and Mike DeWine that ran in papers across the country last week. Most people who read the piece, which demanded…
